I've been lurking for about a month now and figured it was about time I just went ahead and made a profile for myself.

My name is Britt, I'm 22 and sort of fell into being a vegan quite by accident as weird as it may sound. I was very big into soccer as a child but had began to put on weight as I hit my teens and just couldn't compete anymore. I finally decided enough was enough when I hit 250lbs on the scale so I began doing exactly what came naturally to me, I ran. Eventually I began eating a lot of vegetables and beans and began to pull away from the meat. I never really ate any dairy maybe some yogurt on rare occasion but I never did much with dairy milk and I have never liked cheese. I found myself feeling really good and began running faster and further than I ever had and when I looked at what had changed it was entirely whole foods and vegan so I kept with it.

I dropped from 250lbs down to 165 but I needed to build some muscle and that's when I became misinformed. I had never in my life lifted weights so I looked for advice on workouts, form, and nutrition and began eating meat again. I put on muscle mass sure but I also no longer had as much energy as I had which is what partially made me a standout soccer player. I got back to my prior eating habits and almost instantly my energy was back up.

I'm excited to be improving on my soccer game as well as finding new hobbies such as cycling, weight lifting, and bodybuilding. I'm even more excited about picking up some tips and learning even more about the vegan diet.

That's funny I have only known one Britt in my life and he also lives in Seattle, he's a few years older than you though. Great story of thriving on a vegan diet! Welcome to the forum. There is lots to learn from each other on here.